The Jazz tanked in the sense that they got rid of key players who helped them win games. Then they effectively shut down Clarkson and Sexton with 15 or so games to go. However, the players that were active played hard and played to win.
This year was very unusual because teams were bunched together so tightly in the standings. From a tanking perspective, the Jazz could lose a handful of games within a span of 2 weeks and drop from the 5th seed down to the 11th seed. Only the most minimal tanking was required to get a top-10 pick this year. As it turned out, the Jazz had a few flukey wins over teams like Boston, Sacramento and OKC that I'm sure Ainge would have preferred to lose. Just a few more losses, and the Jazz would be looking at a top 6 or 7 pick, which would all but ensure getting Walker, Whitmore or a Thompson.
I'm guessing the Jazz would like to be sitting where the Blazers are, but Portland beat us to the punch when they shut down Dame.